Thread Rating:
  • 4 Vote(s) - 4.75 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
[Guide] Competitive Analysis: Seikamater
#1
Seikamater, the big bad queen of all the ants in Tandor, and the only legendary pokemon able to be obtained via evolution.  Just the very mention of her name strikes fear into the hearts of Amatree Town's residents.  Her home in Tandor is known by the locals as the Anthell.  And to put icing on the top of this very scary cake, you can't even catch her because she has a catch rate of 0.  This is one bug that means business.  If you see a Seikamater on the opposing team, be prepared for anything, as she can do a very, very large number of things.

[Image: latest?cb=20140913060429]

She's so scary and important that JV and Twitch even graced her with an animated sprite!  Not many pokemon hold that honor.  The sprite's not what we're here to see though, right?

Type: Normal/Bug

Ability: Elementalist
This pokemon's Fire, Water, and Electric moves are increased in power 1.5x

HP: 155
Atk: 95
Def: 90
Sp Atk: 105
Sp Def: 90
Speed: 65

The stats and ability alone are scary.  Seikamater has not one, not two, but FIVE STAB types she can use.  And as we've seen with Greninja, having STAB on the majority of your movepool is terrifyingly strong, especially when backed up by a decent attacking stat.  Seikamater matches Greninja blow for blow as a damage dealer, if not nearly as much of a speed demon due to her incredible size (for a bug.  8.4 meters tall and weighing 638.5 kg is pretty big...).  She makes up for the lack of speed with a gargantuan 155 HP stat, the highest out of all pokemon in the Tandor region, and it's backed up by 90 in both defenses.  

And the moves she can use...ooh boy, this is gonna be a long and wild ride.  Let's start with some sets that @Jabuloso has mentioned in his post on the subreddit (yes, he gave me permission to use his sets as a base for this post).

The Dancing Queen (Quiver Dance)
-Quiver Dance
-Fire Blast/Flamethrower/Tri Attack*/Bug Buzz*/Ice Beam*
-Hydro Pump/Surf/Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt/Thunder*
Item: Life Orb/Leftovers/Expert Belt
Ability: Elementalist
Nature: Timid/Modest
EVs: 252 Sp Atk/252 Speed/4 HP

This set aims to capitalize on Seikamater's sheer strength and shore up her speed.  Quiver Dance is the crux of this set for that purpose.  The 3 moves all get the STAB bonus from Elementalist, and they'll pack a punch with only a boost or two.  Fire roasts bug and steel types, water douses fire, rock, and ground, and electric clips the wings of fliers and shocks those water types into tomorrow.  Ice Beam is also an option to create the dreaded BoltBeam combo, which has a huge amount of type coverage.  Carefully pick your moves considering a power versus reliability aspect.  If you need more oomph, take the more powerful move.  Otherwise, stick with the ones that won't miss at the worst times.

Life Orb universally increases your power at the cost of HP, Leftovers helps ya stay healthy while boosting, and Expert Belt is a nice damage increase for super effective moves with no drawbacks, while also allowing you to potentially trick your opponent into thinking you're choiced if you play it well.  Pick your item as preferred.

It should also be noted that the nature you pick matters as well.  A Timid Seikamater can outspeed base 121 speed pokemon and slower after only 1 boost, but modest has more immediate power if you desire that more at the cost of needing 2 boosts to outspeed base 121 mons.  Choose carefully.

*Note: Speaking of water, don't run Thunder unless you're using a rain team.  And if you're using a rain team, you're going to have to remember that decreases the power of your fire moves as well.  Consider running Tri-Attack or Bug Buzz over a fire move in that case, or you could even run Ice Beam for those pesky dragons and BoltBeam (though it lacks STAB).  Steel types will be harder to handle though, so make sure the rest of your team can manage them well.  This trend carries through for a good portion of her potential sets.

The Queen of Coverage (All Out Attacker and Choiced Variants)
-Fire Blast/Flamethrower/Bug Buzz/Tri Attack/U-Turn
-Hydro Pump/Surf
-Thunderbolt/Thunder
-Ice Beam
Item: Assault Vest (currently unreleased)/Life Orb/Expert Belt/Choice Scarf/Choice Specs
Ability: Elementalist
Nature: Timid/Naive/Hasty
EVs: 96 HP/252 Sp Atk/160 Speed OR 4 HP/252 Sp Atk/252 Speed (for choice scarfed variants)


This Seikamater aims to do nothing but pure damage.  She has so much HP that a little investment in it can go a long ways, and she's slow enough that she only has to worry about outspeeding certain slower threats, rather than blazing fast ones she'll never outspeed.  U-Turn is mentioned as an option mainly for Choiced sets, as the ability to pivot is very, very valuable on them.  It's valuable on any other set variant as well, of course.

Well, unless you give her a choice scarf.  Then she can catch some faster ones off guard if you play her well, though she won't have any increase in power aside from Elementalist.  She will be able to outspeed any non-sped up 'mon with a base speed of 121 or lower, however.  Most everything up to the mighty Yatagaryu, a scarfed Seikamater can outspeed and blast with a surprise super effective attack.  It's a good strategy for those revenge kills, but there are other pokemon who can typically do it better.

Meanwhile, Assault Vested variants will have no problems taking a special attack and then responding with a powerful blow the next turn.  Again, pick the item as preferred.

The Queen of Boosting (Bulkier Quiver Dance)
-Quiver Dance
-Substitute/Heal Order
-Electric move/Fire move/Water move/Ice Beam
-Electric move/Fire move/Water move/Ice Beam
Item:Leftovers
Ability: Elementalist
Nature: Timid/Modest
EVs: 200 Sp Atk/252 Speed/56 HP


This set aims to boost as much as possible before attempting to sweep, using Substitute or Heal Order to prolong the boosting process as much as possible.  Substitute hides Seikamater from status moves at the cost of 1/4 of her HP per use, while Heal Order instantly recovers half of her maximum HP.  Each sets up on different types of pokemon though.  Heal Order is used against pokemon that struggle to damage her, while Substitute is used to dodge attacks and statuses from weaker defensive pokemon.  Boost up enough times, and you can set up on virtually any special attacker without Psyshock or Coral Break.  Be wary of Toxic though if running Heal Order instead of Substitute.  Bring Heal Bell support or similar if you decide to go that route.  Electric/Ice, Fire/Water, Water/Electric, and Fire/Electric are all fine coverage choices when picking moves (BoltBeam has the best coverage).  Pick two based on your team's needs.  You know the drill on power versus reliability for the move options by now.

Those are the sets that Jabuloso covered, albeit slightly altered in some areas.  Now for the sets he didn't cover.

The Queen of Raw Power (Wall Breaker)
-Tail Glow
-Fire Blast/Flamethrower/Tri Attack/Ice Beam
-Hydro Pump/Surf/Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt/Thunder
Item:Life Orb/Choice Specs/Expert Belt
Ability: Elementalist
Nature: Timid/Modest
EVs: 96 HP/252 Sp Atk/160 Speed 


This is what happens when you make a Seikamater with one goal in mind: hit as hard as you possibly can.  Familiar with Tail Glow Manaphy?  This is a similar concept, but it's a more extreme version.  Use a single Tail Glow to get +3 Sp Atk in one turn, and then smash whatever's unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end.  Coverage moves are the same as usual.  Getting tired of seeing them yet?  There's one missing though: Bug Buzz.  Seikamater cannot learn Bug Buzz and Tail Glow at the same time.  Why?  Simple.  It doesn't learn either move through level up, but Sponee and Tricwe each learn one of them.  Smore doesn't have any cool moves Seikamater can't normally learn though, except for maybe Heat Wave in a Doubles environment, but that could potentially be tutorable.  Pick your pre-evo carefully when evolving one of them into Seikamater.  It does make a difference.

EV spread is the same as the All Out Attacker set because this Seikamater set isn't going to be outspeeding much of anything outside of her speed tier range, so a little more bulk investment will go a long ways for this set's effectiveness.

The Tiko Catcher (Sticky Web)
-Sticky Web
-Fire move/Tri Attack/Bug Buzz/Ice Beam/Quiver Dance/Tail Glow
-Hydro Pump/Surf/Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt/Thunder
Item:Leftovers
Ability: Elementalist
Nature: Timid/Modest
EVs: 4 HP/252 Sp Atk/252 Speed

This set has one purpose, and it's an important one: Sticky Web.  This is the most game changing hazard out there as of generation 6.  When set, every pokemon on the affected side that isn't in the air (ie: flying type or has the ability levitate) experiences a speed drop of 1 stage.  Seikamater can learn this terrifyingly strong move via the move tutor (and there's also the potential for Cubbug to breed it onto Seikamater's pre-evos).  Most users of it are very weak and niche bugs, but Seikamater is possibly the best user of it in the entire series as of right now.  She's slow enough to experience heavy benefit from its effects, powerful enough to be a veritable threat after laying it down, and bulky enough to lay it reliably.

This Seikamater opts to run maximum speed and power due to the speed tier flipping, and has a huge amount of options for the second moveslot, as combining Sticky Web with any of the other sets is absolutely terrifying if done correctly.  If you run a stat boosting move, I recommend using Ice Beam in the third slot for the additional coverage, though any of the options for the last two slots from the Bulkier Quiver Dance set will work too if you want to boost up. 

There's a couple of things you have to note about this hazard though, which I'll go over now.

-By far the easiest hazard to cancel in the game. All it takes to nullify the effect is setting up a Sticky Web of your own.  Yeah, you don't even have to get rid of it on your side to even the playing field.

-Has no effect on any pokemon with a flying type or the levitate ability. Be extra wary of them, as they become blazing fast against all grounded mons in a Sticky Web zone covering both sides of the field.

-Drops a stat instead of HP upon switching in, so Defiant and Competitive users get a free +2 (special) attack in exchange for -1 speed. Ick.

-Gives pokemon with Contrary a speed boost instead of a speed drop.  Contrary Chimaconda LOVES Sticky Web.

-Is usually only learned by mediocre mons, but Seikamater is defying this rule.

Be especially careful of all of those quirks for the stat lowering hazard, and Seikamater will be a terrifyingly strong asset to your team.

The Queen of Wei...er, Walls (Bulk Set)
-Heal Order
-Thunder Wave/Toxic/coverage move
-Electric move/Fire move/Water move/Ice Beam
-Electric move/Fire move/Water move/Ice Beam
Item:Leftovers
Ability: Elementalist
Nature: Timid/Modest/Calm/Bold
EVs: 252 HP/252 Sp Atk/4 Def or Sp Def or Speed

This hefty set's one goal is to be an utter nuisance.  Forget outspeeding anything.  Full investment in HP and Special Attack aim to not only take hits, but dish them out as well.  Heal Order is Seikamater's recovery of choice, and she then picks and chooses her coverage moves.  Since the aim of the set is to be a nuisance, she can also run a status inflicting move in Toxic or Thunder Wave to cripple the opponent with poison or paralysis at the cost of her increased coverage.

This set can opt to invest in Sp Def or Def instead of Sp Atk if you want more bulk, and the nature should match whatever stat you choose to contribute to with the EVs.  You can put some points in speed as well if you want to outspeed specific pokemon, and run a Timid nature if you do.

The Lazy Queen (ResTalk)
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Quiver Dance
-STAB move
Item:Life Orb/Choice Specs/Expert Belt
Ability: Elementalist
Nature: Timid/Modest
EVs: 96 HP/252 Sp Atk/160 Speed

Oh look, a CroCune variant!  Except this one has 5 potential STAB moves!  Eliminate whatever gets in the way of your STAB move of choice, boost up, and then ResTalk your way to victory!  Favor reliability over power since you'll be using only one attacking move.

Other Moves
U-Turn: Seikamater is one of the slowturner pokemon, meaning it can reliably use U-Turn after the opponent has attacked.  While only mentioned on the All Out Attacker set, it can work on some other sets if you can find space for it.  Make sure to pick a nature that doesn't lower your attack and compromise what the set is trying to do if you decide to use it.  Do note that the bulkier she is, the better she'll take the attacks when U-turning out, and the more often she can do it.

Roar: Seikamater becoming a phaser?!  Yup, it can do it.  It's stopped in its tracks by Soundproof and taunt, but the big bad bug has the bulk to pull this off if you can handle those.

Hidden Power Ground: Maybe if you're particularly worried about electric and/or poison types for some reason?

Sludge Bomb: For all those annoying fairies.  Also has decent coverage alongside water moves, though the combo has problems against Metalynx by itself.

Focus Blast: as unreliable as it tends to be, it IS powerful.  And it does give Seikamater some different coverage options.

Energy Ball: Seikamater's sole grass move!  More coverage options!  This one in particular murders Escartress.

Attack Order, EQ, Return, Iron Tail, and Poison Jab: Seikamater's best physical attacks if you want to run a physical variant for some reason.  Assault Vest, Choice Scarf, Life, Orb, or Choice Band would likely be your items of choice for such a set.

Infestation: Seikamater's only trapping move, but a good one.  This move is always annoying to deal with, particularly if combined with Toxic.

Checks and Counters

It's extremely hard to counter something like Seikamater.  She has a vast amount of coverage, a large amount of bulk, and not a whole lot of weaknesses.  Until you know what set she's running, you won't know how to handle her.  She doesn't have a whole lot of resistances either though, and so can be worn down through various means.

Seikamater hates stealth rocks with a passion.  Particularly if combined with other hazards.  She hates them all.  They'll all cripple and destroy her, and she can't do anything about it.  Be very, very careful with her when switching her in.  She might be bulky, but she's going to want either wish support or a healing move in her moveset to cope with the hazards.  The only set that doesn't really mind them as much is the ResTalker one.

Metalynx can come in and take anything a Seikamater with no boosts and no fire moves wants to throw at it, no problem.  Boosted ones and ones with fire attacks pose more of an issue.

Archilles and Inflagetah will fry the bug queen with their fire attacks.  Archilles will have some trouble with Quiver Dancing variants though.  Inflagetah will take large chunks of HP off of the bug queen regardless of how many boosts she has though.  Neither can really take an attack if Seikamater survives the hit, since she will just douse their flames with a water move.

Harptera can basically do the same thing as Inflagetah will do to Seikamater with a Gale Wings Acrobatics.  It gets annihilated by Ice, Fire, and Electric moves though if it misses the KO.

Anything that can take an unboosted, non-super effective hit from Seikamater can check it reliably. Countering her is the issue due to how much coverage she has.  Inflagetah and Harptera are about the best candidates for being counters, but they don't appreciate switching in on hazards any more than Seikamater does, and Seikamater has to be weakened sufficiently before they can KO the bug due to her gargantuan HP stat.  The two of them are merely the best checks available.

Taunters can stop most variants of Seikamater from doing what they're supposed to, but all out attackers don't care at all.

Toxic puts a timer on Seikamater, which really hinders sets that try to stay in multiple turns to boost up.

Phasers can get rid of her stat boosts with Roar or Dragon Tail if she gets too greedy when boosting.  They also force her to take more hazards damage when she comes back in.

Nucleon does what Nucleon does and outright annihilates Seikamater with Hyper Voice...as long as Seikamater hasn't boosted up with Quiver Dance that is.  Then Nucleon's only hope is a relatively weak Quick Attack which won't kill either unless Seikamater has been weakened a ton.

Partners
Seikamater appreciates anything that can handle the physical priority attacks and massively powerful fire types in Uranium's meta.  Partners such as Escartress, Archilles, Metalynx, and Gyarados can all do their part to alleviate the bugs worries.

Hazard cleaning would be nice for Seikamater as well, so slipping in a Defog or Rapid Spin user would be beneficial once the moves are more readily available.

Wish and Heal Bell support can help Seikamater without their own recovery and a susceptibility to statuses like Toxic.  Luxelong and the Eeveelotions do a spectacular job of providing one or both of them.

A Stealth Rock setter is a particularly good partner for the ant queen.  As Inflagetah and Harptera are about the only things that can reliably check Seikamater regardless of its set, setting those rocks on your opponent's side of the field makes Seikamater's job a lot easier.  Rock types that can do it happen to help a great deal, as they resist flying, normal, and fire, the 3 most commonly used attacking types by Harptera and Inflagetah.  Don't switch a rock type in on an EQ using Inflagetah though.

If you really want to mess with your opponent, bring a Haagross that knows Sticky Terrain along with your Quiver Dancing Seikamater.  If you can manage to boost up while the field move is in effect, not even Inflagetah will be able to stop you until the terrain returns to normal, since its priority attacks will be disabled until then.  Harptera is still going to have free reign over Seikamater though since it's airborne.  But would you look at that...Haagross resists both of Harptera's STAB moves Tongue

Pokemon that appreciate Seikamater are...well, most things.  Seikamater's coverage is so vast that it can complement anything she wants.  Being a slowturner also lets her bring in some frailer pokemon more safely via U-Turn.

Summary
This bug means business when it comes onto the field.  She's a legendary pokemon for a reason.  Very little can stand up to her might when she's got the appropriate moves at her disposal, and you should play around her very cautiously until you know exactly what set she's running.  However, when you do know what kind of set she's running, it might already be too late to stop her.  Your best bet at stopping this versatile bug queen is to put up hazards, phase her, taunt her, and poison her.  In summary, just keep hitting her, and don't let her set up.  If she sets up successfully and you don't have a phaser that can take the hit, Inflagetah, or Harptera, you're finished.  She can take a lot of hits, and will do everything she can to make a mess of your team, but she can only take so many if she doesn't have recovery of some kind and hazards are in play.  

Always be prepared for her, or she'll drag you down into her lair, where her children will...actually, never mind.  You can listen to that horror story get told by that one resident in Amatree who had that happen to him.

Once again, a big thanks to @Jabuloso for letting me write this up using his information from his subreddit post as a base, and also for reviewing the guide before I posted it.  Next on my list is a detailed review of Archilles, both normal and mega!  Not even door handles are going to stop that raptor!
Reply
#2
Daaaayum. We need to do something about all those slashes- although perhaps in the case of Seikamater the slashes are well deserves. Either way, those slashes make the sets confusing.

If using Quiver Dance, I suggest an emphasis on Timid nature, that way it will be able to outspeed all base 120's after one boost- it will need at least two to be able to outspeed anything relevent if running modest.
Reply
#3
(10-04-2016, 08:04 PM)Cataclyptic Wrote: Daaaayum. We need to do something about all those slashes- although perhaps in the case of Seikamater the slashes are well deserves. Either way, those slashes make the sets confusing.

If using Quiver Dance, I suggest an emphasis on Timid nature, that way it will be able to outspeed all base 120's after one boost- it will need at least two to be able to outspeed anything relevent if running modest.

Yeah, I was considering trimming it down, but she does so much and the available coverage is so viable that there isn't really any good way to.  I am open to suggestions on how they might be trimmed down, but let's not kill the showcasing of her potential either.

And Timid versus Modest is really a preference on how many Quiver Dances you think you'll be able to set up and how that affects how you wish to play it.  Modest is more immediately threatening, but Timid will be able to outspeed Yatagaryu and slower with only one boost at the cost of less power overall.  Either works, but the choice is certainly relevant considering you're unlikely to be able to boost to the point where it won't matter.  I'll make a note in the post about that though.
Reply
#4
Great job with the guide, been waiting quite a while for this guide~! I thought that Siekameter was not to good at first, given some of the things I have read, but as I heard more and more about, the 'mon suddenly became very interesting. Now that I've seen this guide, I look forward to laying Sticky Webs EVERYWHERE. Mwhahahahahahaha!
Like the wind, I come and go as I please... but I am always there to provide a comforting breeze.

Member of Team PUNishment. Pun-pare for Struggle, make it Double Team!

Heart Phantom is my OTP~ Heart

Online ID: 000650
Reply
#5
(10-04-2016, 09:07 PM)Lord Windos Wrote: Great job with the guide, been waiting quite a while for this guide~! I thought that Siekameter was not to good at first, given some of the things I have read, but as I heard more and more about, the 'mon suddenly became very interesting. Now that I've seen this guide, I look forward to laying Sticky Webs EVERYWHERE. Mwhahahahahahaha!

Tiko will never stand a chance Tongue
Reply
#6
(10-04-2016, 09:07 PM)Lord Windos Wrote: Great job with the guide, been waiting quite a while for this guide~! I thought that Siekameter was not to good at first, given some of the things I have read, but as I heard more and more about, the 'mon suddenly became very interesting. Now that I've seen this guide, I look forward to laying Sticky Webs EVERYWHERE. Mwhahahahahahaha!

My Defiant Beliaddon looks forward to hoisting you with your own petard, heheh.
Reply
#7
A very messy showcase (as per stated above) but it does show a few things about the Ant Queen that I really liked about (but nobody seemed to agree with me weeks ago..) was its sheer bulk, diversity and ability to hit hard. Oooh, and it packs Utility moves too! How is that not awesome?!

Ahem, anyways.. I do enjoy your guide nevertheless. Seikamater is a terribly difficult opponent to face, it can be the slowest but bulkiest pivot in the entire game, one of the few mons that can learn Sticky Web, has moreeeee than enough bulk to set up and proceed to sweep efficiently, and it can also recover in the form of Heal Order. The only 'problem' it has is that it's slow, but that terrible speed makes its even more viable and incredible and deadly under a TR team. It's amazingly versatile, and I am still bummed when people STILL don't get what's so beautiful about it. Thankfully, your guide captured this essence.

Now to go back to my real life responsibilities ^^ Thanks for your guide, as always. *flies away*


EDIT: Forgot to mention this, but I loved how you mentioned that Seikamater's pre-evo is important when deciding what you want your Seika to be ^^ I genuinely thought I was the only one that noticed it... But now that it's mentioned in a showcase, I really do hope to see more people wanting to try the Ant Queen out!


Reply
#8
(10-04-2016, 09:37 PM)poweroftibarn Wrote:
(10-04-2016, 09:07 PM)Lord Windos Wrote: Great job with the guide, been waiting quite a while for this guide~! I thought that Siekameter was not to good at first, given some of the things I have read, but as I heard more and more about, the 'mon suddenly became very interesting. Now that I've seen this guide, I look forward to laying Sticky Webs EVERYWHERE. Mwhahahahahahaha!

My Defiant Beliaddon looks forward to hoisting you with your own petard, heheh.

My Dunsereph looks forward to Paraflitching Beliaddon to death~ Or maybe my Choice Band Moxie Laissure will have that honor? And who says that Seik can't drown it before it can even do anything? Hehehehehehe.....
Like the wind, I come and go as I please... but I am always there to provide a comforting breeze.

Member of Team PUNishment. Pun-pare for Struggle, make it Double Team!

Heart Phantom is my OTP~ Heart

Online ID: 000650
Reply
#9
(10-04-2016, 11:20 PM)Reeveelution Wrote: A very messy showcase (as per stated above) but it does show a few things about the Ant Queen that I really liked about (but nobody seemed to agree with me weeks ago..) was its sheer bulk, diversity and ability to hit hard. Oooh, and it packs Utility moves too! How is that not awesome?!

Ahem, anyways.. I do enjoy your guide nevertheless. Seikamater is a terribly difficult opponent to face, it can be the slowest but bulkiest pivot in the entire game, one of the few mons that can learn Sticky Web, has moreeeee than enough bulk to set up and proceed to sweep efficiently, and it can also recover in the form of Heal Order. The only 'problem' it has is that it's slow, but that terrible speed makes its even more viable and incredible and deadly under a TR team. It's amazingly versatile, and I am still bummed when people STILL don't get what's so beautiful about it. Thankfully, your guide captured this essence.

Now to go back to my real life responsibilities ^^ Thanks for your guide, as always. *flies away*


EDIT: Forgot to mention this, but I loved how you mentioned that Seikamater's pre-evo is important when deciding what you want your Seika to be ^^ I genuinely thought I was the only one that noticed it... But now that it's mentioned in a showcase, I really do hope to see more people wanting to try the Ant Queen out!


I'm very happy you liked it Big Grin The more I looked at it, the more I was sure it was a top tier threat in the metagame, and the more I wanted to breed for one myself.  I mean, how often do you get to breed a legendary pokemon? (bar Phione)  Personally, I'm starting with a Tricwe base.  I don't care too much about Bug Buzz.
Reply
#10
First of all, I must say once again that I'm very honored. The fact is: you made a much better work than I did. The guide is amazingly complete and showcases the great majority of Seikamater's aspects and possibilities. I was already quite interested in using Seikamater competitively, but now I'm sure I'll use it. The Bug Queen seems awesome!
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)